Dust Free Drywall Sander – Shop Vac Attachment

I’ve been skim coating my dining room to get smooth walls. I shared a tip that I’ve been using to control the dust and in that post I received a few comments with even more ideas to get closer to dust free drywall sanding. Or at least “less dust” drywall sanding. Wouldn’t that be great? NO dust when drywall sanding!!! Then my friend Sarah of the Ugly Duckling Housetold me she like this new drywall sander she had used last time she had done some drywall repair. She said she hooked it up to her shop vac and it worked pretty well…so I purchased one. Why not? It was inexpensive enough and although I was skeptical I wanted to give any affordable option a chance.

Dust Free Drywall Sander

The item in question is a Hyde Tools Dust-Free Drywall Sander. You hook it up to your shop vac and if using a shop vac I would use a Cyclone to grab the super fine dust before it gets to your shop vac because that stuff clogs filters super fast!

Connect to shop vac

I hooked up to my Festool dust collector. It has a hepa filter and is made for this kind of work. I wore my mask and yes, that is a shower cap! I discovered that a shower cap fits over my head, big messy bun and all and keeps all the paint and dust out of it. My hair is crazy long these days and it’s unbelievably difficult to keep it contained and free from all the …stuff I work with every day. So shower cap it is! Just go with it.

I also turned on my fan and kept the plastic up so I could contain any dust that did fall within just that room

I turned on my vac and began sanding…

…and it flippin’ worked! Like — super well! I didn’t see ANY dust at all. I generally sand very lightly at this point so as not to leave those little grid-like marks left from the sanding screen but I wanted to test this puppy out so I gave it my all and it still didn’t drop a speck.

Ok, let me get this straight, this thing doesn’t let any dust escape? I gave it another test. Pulled down the plastic, took off my mask and “hair protector” so I could really concentrate on what was happening! No mask! No Hair Protection! And a BLACK SHIRT AND I stood against the wall underneath the sander and sanded again so my black shirt would catch the dust and it would be super duper easy to see it.

Nothing!

Adjustable suction is a must

If you have a shop vac with adjustable suction, it’s great! With too much suction it’s difficult to sand very lightly and avoid leaving any marks behind.

There are two small rings on the neck that allow you to release some of the suction pressure which helps a little. With the valves completely shut I can pretty much stick the sander on the wall and walk away — so there’s a lot of suction!

Not a powered sander

It’s just a regular pole sander that requires YOU to do the work (up and down, round and round, side to side–whatever your sanding preference). There are tools on the market that sand the wall for you and collect the dust. I’ve considered one of those but they are expensive and the reviews are mixed. They are heavy and cumbersome and …did I say expensive? Festool has one that is $1100. Porter Cable has one that is $500. I’m not interested in spending that kind of money because I only do this kind of work once in a while. (More often than I care to lately.)

As with all pole sanders I’ve used, this drywall sander has a tendency to flip as I’m pulling it down. This gouges the wall. I think preventing that is all in developing technique.

So this is a keeper in my book. I was pleasantly surprised by this little $29 item. It’s definitely a new Workshop Fav.

Comments

New tip: use a highly-reviewed primer (like Glidden Gripper) & it will surprisingly fill in those little annoying scratch marks. And make sure you go over the last coat with a sanding screen with high grit (mine are actually marked for first, second,
& last coats).

I’ll have to get me one of these! Beats the heck out of holding the sander in one hand and the vacuum in the other. I did that on my stairs and it almost killed me. And! Still did not catch all the sanding dust. Thanks!

Anything that means less drywall dust deserves a medal in my books! Your tool looks even better than the one we used (it was a handheld). It also helped control dust but it wasn’t perfect. I’m getting one for next time! Thanks so much!